The Aṅguttara Nikāya contains thousands of short discourses, which have the particularity to be structured as enumerations. It is divided into eleven sections, the first dealing with enumerations of one item, the second with those of two items etc. The Buddha, having never made use of writing, asked his listeners to be attentive and to memorize his instructions. In order to make his words as clear as possible and to facilitate this memorization, he often presented his teaching in the form of enumerations.

In this sutta, the Buddha compares the removal of mental impurities through the practice to the work of a goldsmith. It is particularly interesting, because it provides a gradual exposition of the impurities one has to deal with during the practice, which gives an useful reference.

Do you find yourself nodding off or becoming overly agitated during your meditation practice? This is a very useful discourse for the meditators who wish to balance the two corresponding spiritual faculties of effort and concentration, together with equanimity. Many of us would benefit substantially from applying properly these instructions.

Here the Buddha defines in detail what he calls the five Sekha-balas (strenghs of one in training). This sutta is easily understandable without requiring a parallel translation, if you refer to the Satta saddhammā Formulae as will be suggested in the text. The Pali-English Dictionary is also available, just in case.

The Buddha reminds us of five things that deteriorate the practice, which for anyone wishing to progress in the training are nearly as important to know about, remember and integrate into our lifestyles as the knowledge of the five standard nīvaraṇas.

Here the Buddha uses an enlightening simile to explain how seven good qualities that should be mastered by the trainee in order to be successful work together to prevent the troops of Māra (ie. akusala dhammas) from entering the fortress of the mind.

Seven wise thoughts which are truly worth understanding and remembering occur to ven. Anuruddha. The Buddha comes to him to teach him the eighth, endowed with which he will attain arahantship. The Buddha then explains in detail the meaning of those thoughts.